From Fabrica de imagine site and interview with Artiom Zavadovsky, GENDERDOC-M

What was the context of the campaign?

GENDERDOC-M Information Centre is the only NGO in Moldova that works in the field of defending and promoting LGBT rights. We had organised public campaigning activities in past years, but with no specific external support and with little visibility and of relative quality. As a matter of fact, surveys showed that negative views towards LGBT people had actually increased in recent years. In 2016 we were considering launching a new action under the slogan “no hate”, but we sensed we had to get one level deeper and address the roots causes of homophobia and not just talk about its expression, i.e. hate. We knew we had to be more effective in developing message that would directly address these roots.

How did you do this?

In order to understand what caused such intolerance, we teamed up with the PR agency “Fabrica de imagine”. The first step was to conduct a qualitative study using the method of guided interview, by which we identified attitudes towards LGBT people.

After analyzing the results of these studies, we found out that the main underlying factor in perceptions of LGBT people was FEAR. With many forms of expression such as fear of contagion, fear of being “recruited”, fear for the traditional societal roles. And since fear is actually something that LGBT and cis heterosexual people have in common, we realised that this aspect is something that could actually help us connect to each other. We wanted to have a campaign that would generate empathy of cis heterosexual people towards LGBT people, so we had to find a common ground. The realisation that we all know fear, and that we all want to break free from it, provided this common ground.

So we decided that the campaign would be based on the positive message of liberation from fear.

Who was the specific target group of the campaign?

The campaign’s objective was to influence silent homophobes, whose attitude would be influenced by the understanding that between the LGBT community and the rest of the citizens of this country, there were no differences, because we all have the same feelings, including fear. The campaign also aimed directly at LGBT people themselves by giving them the confidence to overcome their own fears. The third target was public figures, who in private conversations support LGBT people but do not show their support publicly because it is not popular or accepted by the majority.

What general approach did you take?

One of the first decisions we made during the campaign concept elaboration was to apply the principle of “hidden approach”. Homophobia is so strong in the country that if we had been transparent on the objective from the outset, people would have closed off to it. So we needed to take a “foot in the door” approach by which we get people to walk part of the way before we tell them the destination. So our plan was to have people show positive interest in the campaign before we would reveal what it was all about.

So we decided to develop a two-phased approach. Firstly, we developed the “No Fear” slogan without mentioning that it focused on LGBT people and got people curious about it, as well as engaging in the process of liberation from fear by talking about their own fears. We launched two types of teaser videos with the simple questions “What is your biggest fear?” and “What would you do on the day when you got rid of it?” with the same people answering both questions. Videos with the second question were launched a week after the first teasers had appeared. The initial campaign materials, like its Facebook page and YouTube page, were unbranded, with no mention of the organisation behind it.

Only later did we “come out” as the campaign had already gathered a lot of interest, including from the media. Actually a lot of people thought it was a campaign lead by a political party, so imagine their surprise!

Another element was that we needed to come out directly with cis heterosexual supporters. If there had been only LGBT people featured, our audience would have dismissed the message. We had to talk to people through the people they could relate to. So we went in search of allies, which was really not easy. Imagine that even part of the film crew that had to work on the production of the main campaign video was so homophobic that they did not event want to work on this project. So finding people to publicly support the cause was not easy, even if a lot of people in the “creative” sectors such as show business support LGBT people in private. But we eventually found the right supporters to allow us to shoot a series of videos each of which was specifically tailored to the exact segment of the target group (Russian-speaking allies for that linguistic minority in Moldova, young people to address their peers, etc.)

In these videos, we mixed up LGBT people, ordinary citizens and celebrities in order to blur the boundaries between categories to further promote empathy and implicitly maintain LGBT visibility. These videos were posted on the partner media websites and buzzed. We got over 1000 Facebook page likes in the first week which, to our standards, is a good success.

You can watch all the interviews made during the “No Fear” campaign on the Youtube channel of the campaign.

How did you take this concept of “liberation from fear” further?

One of the most striking creative actions of this campaign was to develop “a letter from your fear”: a letter written to people by their own fear, telling them they could now live without it and say goodbye to it.

The letter was sent to about 4000 people, including celebrities, politicians, opinion leaders, diplomatic missions, journalists, etc.

The idea of sending out letters stemmed from the necessity to communicate directly with the public, with every person individually, for the message to be perceived through a personal prism. We created a context in which those who received a letter like this would question themselves and think about the possibility of overcoming problems they faced. Shortly, after the dispatch of letters they became viral on social networks. Several users posted pictures of the envelope and the letter itself, expressing their opinions about the message

So how did you “come out”?

One week after launching the campaign “anonymously”, May 17^th, the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the annual MoldovaPride Festival opened, and the campaign was at the center of the festival’s communication.

We then launched the official “response video” to the teaser. This video illustrates the process of „liberation from fear”. In this case, the fear looks like tar, and the video shows that the liberation from it makes us stronger and better. The video was produced by the production house, MILK Films, of Fabrica de imagine.

One of the central actions held on that day was a flashmob which aimed to raise awareness on the rights of LGBT people by emphasizing the inequality that exists in society towards the perception regarding the manifestation of affection in public by LGBT people. In the centre of Chișinău, capital city of Moldova, volunteers of the AIESEC-Chișinău organisation formed a silent square, symbol of the social campaign “No Fear”, and in the end they displayed a banner saying, “We’re not afraid to hold hands in public. LGBT people are.”

Two days later we also held a press conference with some of the celebrities who took part in the campaign. It was supported by the EU Delegation to Moldova and US Embassy. The aim of press conference was to invite everybody to take part in the upcoming Solidarity March “No Fear”, which was the official MoldovaPride March held for the fourth year in a row. It was the first time when the march itinerary was announced publicly prior to the event.

The culmination of events was the Solidarity March “No Fear” held on Sunday, May 22^nd.

This March had been attacked the year before. How did you mitigate the risks this time?

In line with the communication strategy of the campaign we decided to downplay the focus on LGBT rights and to stay on track with the message. So the “No Fear” visual was the only symbol that we used. We decided not to use any rainbow flags or other LGBT symbols, because this is exactly what all the homophobes, right-wing and religious extremists had expected us to march with. Instead, our decision was to march in silence, dressed in black-and-white T-shirts with the campaign’s logo in the front and the message “There is no fear under this T-shirt” on the back.

The absence of LGBT symbols also made it easier for allies or non-out LGBT people to join the march, whose attendance doubled in 2016 in comparison with the last year’s event. Our main aim was to maintain a very peaceful profile that would create a huge contrast with the violence of potential attacks. The Solidarity March “No Fear” was covered by all media outlets with national coverage from Moldova, media outlets from Romania, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Australia. A total amount of 170 articles and reports about the March were broadcast and published. We managed to walk 5 out of the 8 blocks of the planned route due to the violent attack on the march from religious bigots and right-wing extremists. We turned these 5 blocks into a measurement of our road to freedom. Next year we’ll walk further!

Many campaigns struggle with their visual identity. How did you decide on the visual?

Of course the campaign needed to have a strong visual identity, so we handed this over to the creative agency, who came up with the concept of a black square/box, which meant to symbolise the shape and the colour of fear. The box expressed the idea that our fears keep us imprisoned and don’t let us think outside of the box.

The campaign concept was conceived to evolve over 3 years, so the logo also is meant to evolve, with the black box representing fear gradually becoming smaller and eventually disappearing.

Were there changes in your plans? Things you had to adapt?

The agency had initially planned public events in bars and restaurants but the response was negative and we had to give up on them. There were many other ideas that had to be abandoned. A lesson learnt is that you have to be realistic, flexible and let plans go off even if they look great. Also, we had to restrict the duration of the campaign because there was no way it could overlap with the Easter celebrations, which are very important for the country.

What resources did you mobilise all over the course of this campaign?

This campaign cost us a fortune, around €45K. But we believe its impact was worth every cent.

How did GENDERDOC-M get ready to engage into such a resource-intensive process?

Like many organisations we started from a position where we thought we just know best and can rely on our own knowledge. It was a training session on communications which raised our awareness of the complexities of communicating effectively for social change and this transformed our approach. We realised that our knowledge was very much focused on what to change, not on how to change it. We conducted internal discussions and mainstreamed the understanding that we had to work on the causes, not on the expressions of homo/transphobia. We realised that we did not have the expertise internally and we probably never will, so our approach to campaigning now is based on the belief that everything should be done by professionals, and that’s why we rely on external support.

What are the outcomes of this campaign and how can you observe them?

The quantitative outputs of the campaign were excellent. During the campaign page posts were viewed over 100,000 times and post engagement exceeded 170,000 users. Videos of the campaign were viewed in a total amount of 28,000 users. We also got excellent media coverage.

Beyond that, the campaign kept being mentioned for a whole week after the events had been over, including in various TV shows. One of the campaign leaders was later invited by a simulation TV show to become one of their 12 candidates to the alternative position of Moldova’s president in a parallel run by non-political candidates during the real-life presidential election campaign. She made it to the finals thanks to the votes received from the TV show’s audience. Thus it is an indicator that the campaign really expanded the public space for LGBT people (and that she is just excellent on her own, of courseJ!) The slogan “No Fear” is now associated with the LGBT agenda so much that others have abandoned the idea of using it in order to avoid confusion.

This campaign has also really impressed other stakeholders who are now more trustful in our competence and more confident to side with us as allies. This boost of our profile has also impacted on the community, and people have definitely gained more trust in us and themselves!

We believe that one of the most important outcomes of the Social Campaign “No Fear” is to achieve a paradigm shift that transforms the fight for the rights of LGBT people into the fight for the rights of every citizen. We have realised this by analysing the content of articles and reports about the Solidarity March “No Fear” and by analysing reactions of some opinion leaders.

LESSONS LEARNT

Agim Margilaj, from the  Center for Social Group Development – CSGD -, tells us more about how this happened

Is holding a public march in Kosovo a “risky business”?

Kosovo is a very homophobic country. In a recent survey, only 3% of people said they would support their own children if they were LGBT. The community is very small and most people won’t come out publicly. So, holding a march is indeed quite a challenge.

So how was the situation of public campaigning in Kosovo before that historic IDAHOT march in May 2016 ? Had something that exciting happened before ?

The coalition of LGBT organisations in the country (us, CEL and QESH) has been celebrating IDAHOT since 2014. The first year we wanted to test the ground and we organised a discreet event with 60 people, mainly international allies. As it worked well, we scaled up the year after with a larger event attended by 200-so people, including national institutions. Each time, we were careful not to communicate with the media ahead of the events, so as not to generate counter protest.

Else, there have been some public messaging such as street banners or facebook campaign, but nothing on a very large scale

Was the IDAHOT 2016 event different in nature?

The previous actions had been essentially about visibility, without any clear political ask. It was mainly to “dance against Homophobia”.

This time, we were determined to be more political and to include specific demands, in this case the right to register same-sex partnerships. This right is in theory guaranteed by our 2008 constitution which explicitly lists Sexual Orientation as a ground on behalf of which discrimination is forbidden. Our current family law therefore breaches our Constitution.

So we decided to hold the IDAHOT march under the argument that “Our love is Constitutional”, and to demand access to the rights which the Constitution already grants us.

How did the preparations go?

We had early confirmation from the Municipality that they would allow the march, and from the police that we would have protection.

We had trouble in previous years to get the authorisation but we complained so much that the city authorities are now much more supportive.

Two months ahead of the day, we started reaching out to institutions, allies, foreign support, etc.

We basically invited everybody to join, but weren’t expecting more support than the year before, when only a handful of national bodies sent representation.

We got early confirmation of the support from foreign Embassies and from the EU. The US Embassy even hired a US band to play in the central city square at the end of the march.

Ulrike Lunacek, Kosovo Rapporteur, Vice President of the EU Parliament and co-chair of the EUP intergroup on LGBT rights, who was in the country for other purposes very naturally decided to attend the march.

And on the day itself?

We had invited the President along with all the other national institutions but he actually sent no information and literally just showed up!

When he was elected, he couldn’t even get the LGBT acronym right but he obviously has very high capacity staff, and he delivered convincing speeches against discrimination.

In any case, LGBT people are certainly not popular enough in the country for his action to be considered “pink-washing”, even though the EU accession process obviously constituted an essential motivation for his presence.

Interestingly, many institutions followed in his wake, with the Ministers of Justice and EU integration also being present, and with representations from the Prime Ministers office, the Ombudsman, etc.

How was the public reaction?

The march itself was peaceful. We had strong police protection but it doesn’t look like there were threats planned.

The attendance of the President logically attracted a lot of media, and the march was covered in every single media outlet, almost minute by minute. The media attention was sustained over 5 or 6 days after the march, with many TV shows and top news features. Overall, there has been no negative coverage. At worst, the media kept a neutral tone.

There hasn’t been much direct reaction from the general public, neither negative or positive. But we definitely received many more contacts from LGBT people, especially from remote parts of the country, who reported hate speech and other incidents. These are people who might not have known that we existed before we got this extensive media coverage.

And now?

The success of this action is encouraging us to continue in this direction.

Rather than spending a lot of energy (and probably limited resources) creating stories that will capture people’s attention, it might be more effective to surf on the wave of what already captures people’s imagination.

This tactic is close to what is know as “Détournement”, the art of reappropriating artifacts drawn from popular media and injecting them with radical connotations

Here is for example a good one on McDonalds

Being opportunistic doesn’t necessarily involve being critical of the original content you are using.

For example, Pokemon Go’s success has unleashed a range of attempts to surf on its success, without the game itself being targeted in the message.

One of such examples is this campaign against Israel’s occupation of Palestine

The photomontage shows a dead Picachu in the rubbles of a Gaza house.

Pokemon has been a favorite “opportunity” for many more

Another example of “opportunism”  is this genius campaign by the Salvation Army, which surfed on the amazingly successful twitterstorm of whether a dress would appear to viewers as white and gold or black and blue.

Denouncing that we turn a blind eye to violence against women, it refers to the image of a bruised woman, asking “Why is it so hard to see black and blue?”

Such strategies can be hugely successful and, if cleverly combined with humour, can actually also harness part of the counter reaction which successful phenomena always bring. In the case of the dress for example, part of the twitterstorm was also caused by the strong reaction against the shallowness of the matter. This opposition was probably delighted to find in the Salvation Army’s campaign a good way to balance this out with a more meaningful engagement.

Some remarks that are useful to raise though:

– You should be conscious that this is sheer “piggybacking”, a fundamental and often misused principle in campaigning which is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “to use something that someone else has made or done in order to get an advantage”. Normally your “noble” cause will allow you to do this, but there are limits to even what philanthropies can do without being qualified shameless.

– Are you really trying to get to your target group, or is this “opportunity” distracting you from your target group in order to go for a “low hanging fruit” (an easy catch, a quick win)? The latter might be OK, but it just needs to fit within your strategy. This means that you should have a plan of what to do with this audience once their interest for your cause is caught. And to have a mid term plan on how to keep them engaged and possible move up the engagement “ladder”, bringing them gradually to more meaningful action

– By using this opportunity, are you being consistent with your values and your brand image? For example if you piggyback (that is surf) on the success of a commercial for a product, will this be compatible with your ethics as an NGO ?

– Surfing on something you want to combat (eg a very hurtful statement made by a celebrity) might backfire: Even negative communication reinforces the visibility of what has been said, and will anchor the ORIGINAL statement in the minds of the public, more than your “counters-statement”. Before surfing on something negative, ask yourself clearly if this will not just do more harm than good. If you don’t have a very credible answer, abstain from using this “opportunity’. More info on this in the section on Naomi Klein’s objection on reification HERE

To inspire your creativity, we are bringing you a selection of campaigns and actions that have happened on this issue around the world in the past.

Do you know of any other interesting campaign on the issue? Please tell us so at contact@dayagainsthomophobia.org

“What does family mean to queer and LGBTIQ communities?”

is the question that a creative bunch have given answers to with a queer quilt made of patches of family photos:

Ask and Tell

Artist Tatjana Plitt photographed same-sex couples and families in the military to honor the soldiers who served in silence under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

 Invisible parents

A campaign by the LGBT advocacy group AllOut, which is pushing for the recognition of same-sex parents in the European Union.

Resist Conversion Therapy

Staging a performance against conversion therapy. In 2014, Yang Teng, 30, sued a clinic in China over gay conversion therapy. He said he voluntarily underwent the therapy in February after receiving pressure from his parents to get married and have a child

LGBT parents at the workplace

Talking about ones’ family adventures after the weekend with colleagues at work can be a challenge for some LGBTIQ persons. In 2014 a coalition of Swiss (Geneva) based actors decided to raise awareness about the challenges LGBTIQ parents may face in the workplace

Homelessness

The Depaul Trust, an international charity initially founded in the UK, working with young homeless and vulnerable people, commissioned these print advertisements in 2006 challenging people to think carefully about the origins of homelessness

All Children – All Families

Human Rights Campaign’s All Children – All Families project was developed to promote LGBTQ cultural competency among child welfare agencies due to the high number of LGBTIQ youth in foster care. As part of the project, a series of innovative resources were developed

Respect Your Elders

The campaign and education program is part of The 519’s drive to secure LGBTQ inclusive environments for older people

“Stay Close”

PFLAG New York launched “Stay Close” featuring straight celebrities with their gay relatives.

PFLAG NY recruited talented individuals from various fields (advertising, PR, law, media) to work pro bono on the awareness effort, which became known as the “Stay Close” campaign.  After three years in the making, PFLAG NY launched “Stay Close” featuring straight celebrities with their gay relatives. The message is simple: Stay Close to your loved ones because relationships are too precious to lose.

Not exactly an easy action, but it would be much easier to develop a similar one with ‘normal’ people. In order to benefit from the ‘adhesion factor’ that celebrities provide, he “celebrity” aspect can be replaced by moral authority. For example the parents can be clerics, community leaders, firemen, or other people who have a strong moral authority in your context.

Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community

The “Family Is Still Family” television PSA Campaign offers a powerful message: offer your LGBTQ child a lifeline, support their coming out, and keep the family strong and unified. It’s composed of several videos in various Asian languages

Stonewall’s Different Families, Same Love campaign for primary schools was developed to show that “Families come in all different shapes and sizes, from the conventional nuclear family to single parents, adoptive parents and children being raised by grandparents.”

UN Stamp

In February 2016, the UNPA (United Nations Postal Administration) in partnership with the Free and Equal Campaign led by the OHCHR (United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) issued the organization’s first-ever series of LGBT-theme stamps, including families

Asian Pride

For the month of June 2015, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance joined with the Asian Pride Project for, to release encouraging videos of parents and their LGBT children as Public Service Announcements throughout the US. Featured on both Asian TV stations and YouTube, a total of nine videos – narrated and subtitled in varying languages and dialects – have been promoted for LGBT Pride Month.
https://vimeo.com/127559946

#Whatmatters

In Toronto, PFLAG developed a campaign that creatively uses new technology as viewers have to flash a poster to uncover the hidden words. 

The #WhatMatters poster begins with the words Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans, Straight, Queer, Two-Spirited in rainbow stripes, but when students take a flash picture  a new set of words appears beside them: Partner, Teammate, Buddy, Friend, Ally, Supporter, BFF.

J. Walter Thompson Canada created the posters and special printing technique pro bono, and BMO Financial Group helped cover the printing costs.

Arguably not an easy action to replicate, but a great way to face the extreme challenge of getting the attention of teenagers

 Celebrate your Child

A mother placed an add in the “Celebrations” section of a Texas newspaper to announce her son’s coming out. A great idea for individual action on IDAHOT and something easy to suggest to your supporters. If a certain volume can be achieved, ie dozens of this kind of announcements posted on IDAHOT, the action could actually get some media coverage. It’s like the gay “storming” technique (by which a group of LGBT people take a homophobic place or institution by storm) but in a friendly way.

Read more 

Brazil’s Equality Moms

Equality Moms (Mães de Igualdade) is a group of strong, proud Brazilian mothers, fighting for the rights of their LGBT sons and daughters. They teamed with street artist JR to create a powerful display of portraits.

Again, something difficult to replicate. Though you might want to just roll up your sleeves, put your best smile on, and contact JR. After all, that’s how this one got started!

“Tell me!” Parents on the coming out of their children

Agedo, an Italian NGO composed of parents of LGBT people, sponsored this funny but also extremely moving campaign for the International Coming Out Day. In the video, they tease their children for their clumsy efforts to hide their same-sex partners to the family but they also make a thoughtful appeal to them, encouraging them to come out as what they really are, in the name of that undying and unconditional love that only parents have for their children

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O3EOmmVNdc

It also reveals how reclaiming our identities sometimes needs to include the reclaiming of the words.

Interview with Biljana Ginova, from the Macedonian Lesbian feminist activist group “Lezfem”

- In 2013, Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia, woke up with strange banners hanging from city bridges. Tell us what happened.

“Lesbians Wish You a Safe Trip”

– We established ourselves at the end of 2012 as an activist group of women, we got established at the end of 2012. Initially, our objective was to be a support group for non-heterosexual women. Instead, the group of 5 strong and quite angry women who formed decided to use that anger to interfere in the public sphere. One of us suggested the idea of hanging banners on the bridges containing the word ‘lesbian’ (or in local language ‘lezbejka’) and after a short brainstorm, the messages were created and the action plan established. The idea behind this action was to put the word“lezbejka” in the public sphere in an interesting, engaging and yet apolitical way.

Indeed we had enough of not even being able to pronounce the word “Lezbejka” publicly, as this word is considered a “dirty” word in our context. Just to give you an idea of the situation: a local TV was horrified when a member of a talk show uttered the word “Lezbejka”, as they didn’t have the possibility to beep over the word when broadcasting. That tells you just how much stigma there is.

And this obviously contributes hugely to same-sex relationships amongst women being totally invisible in mainstream society, if not for the classic representation of female couples for the “erotic” fantasy of straight men.

So we thought: Let’s start with the beginning and reclaim the word Lesbian and to transform its “filthiness” into part of our identity.

- So why did you chose the banners on bridges as a medium?

– The action came at a time when government-sponsored homophobia was at its height and the government was actively campaigning against us, virulently opposing same-sex marriage, which no one demanded in the first place, by the way. The national daily newspaper was writing homophobic front page articles for days on end.

So you can imagine that communicating via official channels such as print media, TV or radio was not an option. We had to rely on our social media, so we had to find something that would go viral. But we didn’t want to do just a meme or a poster. We wanted to make an intervention in the public space, to exist in the real world, not only virtually.

That’s when we thought that the photos of the hanging banners would make for a great viral item. And it did!

“Lesbians Wish you Welcome”

- How did you decide on the message?

– Our objective was to show that in this city there is lesbian community that is not quite in-line with the image that society holds of them, and we planned to do that by putting the word lesbian in the public discourse in a funny and friendly way. It was important for us not to have any particular political demand. We didn’t even brand the action, so it wouldn’t look like a traditional protest action by one specific group. The messages included “Lesbians Welcome You to Skopje”; “Lesbians Wish you a Safe Journey”; “Lesbians Wish you a Good Day”; etc, so it was considered “cute” and a-political by the broader public

- How did you get this done?

– To avoid arrest by police, we hung the banners at 4 a.m. Police had most of them down by 8, but it was enough to get the pictures done, and it was enough for thousands of drivers to see them, and many to take pics and to post them online. We looked at the outreach and it was in the tens of thousands! A funny anecdote: one of the banners was forgotten by the police and stayed hung for 6 months!

- What was the reaction of the public?

– Actually, we were very surprised at how well this action was received. It was posted online by many people, blogs, online media and by 11 webportals, including the daily paper that had been so virulently homophobic. All of this coverage was positive or neutral, which is amazing given the context. Interestingly, there have been reactions from within the Lesbian community, criticizing us for having used the word “Lezbejka” and urging us to adopt the terminology “women who love women”.

- How do you see the impact of this action?

– Well, one effect is exactly that: allowing our community to reclaim the words that define them. If we can’t even talk about Lesbians ourselves, how can we expect the rest of society to evolve? So this action really had a deep effect on how lesbians now actually use the word themselves. Obviously, it also got our group, LezFem, better known. It surely also had an impact on the public image of lesbians in society. This friendly-funny image which we showed definitely brought us a lot of support.

- How did you assess the risks of this action?

– We decided on a format that would take us not too far outside the borders of legality. We did not damage any public good, cause any public trouble, etc. We don’t have a “propaganda” law as in Russia, so the legal risks were minimal.

We were anxious that homophobes might trace us back via social media and seek us out, but that didn’t happen, thankfully. It was a risk, which we assessed and decided to take.

- What came next?

– After this action, our priority was to strengthen our connection to the feminist movement so we engaged in a series of actions in partnership with other feminist activist groups. The political context was also marked by a very conservative vision of women: the only gender studies programme at the state university had been replaced by a curriculum on traditional families, the government had launched a campaign to boost birth rates and restricted abortion rights. A national programme to erect hundreds of monuments only included 3 women, one of them being Olympia, Alexander the Great’s mother, crouching under the fountain shown only as a mother and a caretaker. . So, in that context, we campaigned for the recognition of famous women and for the rehabilitation of the women who had fought the liberation against the Ottoman imperia, and during WWII. These and many others activities we had, lead us to be included as a Lesbian organisation in the national Gender Equality Platform and to be part of the Memorandum of Understanding which is about to be signed with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Intersectionality is the key of our strategy. , We’ll definitely keep fighting for improving the quality of lesbian existence but we will do that with understanding of all other aspects: economic, ethnic, cultural, political etc. Challenging our own privileges to understand those among us that are doubly stigmatized such as Roma lesbians, bisexual women, trans lesbians, lesbians with disabilities, non-heterosexual women from rural areas.

For the 2016 General Assembly, the UN Free and Equal campaign and the US government collaborated to get this amazing Rainbow Crossing done in front of the UN building. There was a huge symbolism in the fact that UN delegates from all countries, including all the countries which still criminalise same-sex conduct, had to cross this rainbow in order to access the UN.

Charles Radcliffe from the UN office of the Commissioner for Human Rights expressed that this initiative served to “celebrate diversity and remind UN delegates that the fight goes on” . This action is obviously situated in a much wider strategy, involving inside lobbying with the establishment of an independent expert on LGBT issues at the Human Rights Council and public campaigning, with the ongoing Free and Equal campaign, which also seizes the opportunity of every IDAHOT to take action, mainly by launching international videos.

The idea to create rainbow crosswalks appears to have first emerged in West Hollywood as part of the 2012 Gay Pride Month celebrations. In May 2012, Tel Aviv city hall painted a crosswalk in rainbow colors to headline the Gay Pride Parade’s main concert.

These photos, reminiscent of the Beatles Abbey Road album cover were posted on Facebook and the crosswalk was repainted white a few hours later.

The government in Sydney, Australia, created a temporary rainbow crossing as part of the 35th Mardi Gras celebrations, which became iconic for the LGBT community. When the city took the decision to have it removed for security reasons, people began to take matters into their own hands, by creating their own rainbow crossings out of chalk, with parents and children from several local schools chalking a rainbow in the public square at Summer Hill, as part of the DIY Rainbow Crossing movement.

 A group of families and supporters continue to chalk the rainbow, especially after rain. This group has also ensured the area remains free of litter; they also hold occasional performances and arts-related celebrations at the site. Some local businesses have offered discounts and support for the rainbow, these display a logo with a stylised image of the rainbow crossing on it. A Summer Hill Rainbow Crossing Facebook page was used to support the community protest.

The craze quickly took Australia by storm and then spread out to countless countries as well

We are looking forward to welcoming you !

In more recent times they were adopted by the American Occupy Movement, and became a common occurrence in most parts of the West. The modern standard, which is now-recognised by many social campaigns, uses a number of hand signals based on simplified American sign language to facilitate communication in public gatherings.

If you find that your meetings and public events sometimes struggle with multiple people talking at once, or if you find that they can be difficult to access for some groups, then you might want to consider implementing hand signals into your next event.

For more information on these hand signals and how to use them, please visit this Wikipedia page.

If you want more advice on actions for IDAHOT 2016 then consider joining our creative protest group on Facebook.

Safer spaces policies are the rules by which a community agrees to operate. They help make sure that marginalised individuals are free to be themselves, and help prevent some of the problems common in mainstream society (such as racism, sexism or transphobia) from becoming a part of the community. In preparation for IDAHOT 2016 we’re sharing a few short tips that you should know before creating an official safer spaces policy for your event or community space.

Understand your community

Before starting to create a safer spaces policy it’s good to know which members of your community would benefit most from it. Within LGBTQ circles women, trans and non-binary people, and people with disabilities are often marginalised and excluded from the conversation more than other groups. (In Western countries also people of colour face similar issues).

A safer spaces policy should exist to ensure that those voices within your community can still thrive and contribute. Looking at your community and understanding who would benefit is the best way to start making a policy that tackles these important issues.

Preempt problems

Before even starting a policy it’s also important to understand the problems that are common. Do men dominate conversations and action? Do people with disabilities struggle to engage? Is the language you use accessible and easy for everyone?

Look at some of the common problems your community faces, both in mainstream society and in your own spaces, and attempt to identity some ways in which they could be avoided. Every community in every country is different, so there is never a one-size-fits-all solution to these issues.

Promote cooperation

Rather than making a set of rules that bans some people from acting in certain ways it’s always much more useful to promote cooperation instead. If one group, for example, tends to talk while another listens then you should try to promote behaviour in which these roles are reversed. You should always try to encourage others to voluntarily give up their typical role rather than try to take it away from them.

By making everyone aware of their own behaviour, and how it effects others, you can also foster cooperation that can be hugely powerful in mainstream society too.

Avoid alienating and generalisations

In a similar way, it’s also important to remember that your policy does not help to further alienate certain people from the community, even if they do typically hold a position of power within it. Bad safer spaces policies from the past typically relied on rules that excluded those individuals from participating instead.

Although it may seem like this is an easy way of addressing power imbalances, it often only helps to exclude individuals from your community entirely. Remember that the primary aim should be to prevent issues common in the mainstream and to build a community that is entirely inclusive in ways that mainstream society is not.

An important part of this effort is not making assumptions about anyone’s background or identity. Although it can be easier to generalize this can lead to many problems, which within the LGBTQ community should always be avoided.

Get feedback

If you’re writing the policy on your own, or as part of a small team, make sure you get feedback from the rest of the community. If a rule or suggestion isn’t working you might want to remove it. If something is missing you might want to add it.

It’s difficult sometimes to address the needs of everyone on your own, which is why it’s important to take feedback and criticisms from those individuals themselves. Encourage your community to share input on their own needs and wishes, and try whenever possible to include these within your policy.

Know your legal rights

Sometimes a community will be forced to exclude individuals or groups that make it difficult or impossible to operate. If someone breaks your rules, either on purpose or through continued ignorance, then you may wish to exclude them from your space. In these cases it’s important to know where you stand legally. Every country will have different laws around removing someone from a property or event, so make sure you check in advance to know where you stand in case a worst-case scenario occurs.

In some cases legal standards will make it easier to enforce the rules you’ve set. In some countries these laws may make it difficult to operate freely. It’s always important to make sure your policy operates within legal parameters, so that everyone within the community is safe from further issues.

Make your policy known

Publish your policy online and in-person whenever possible. If you are in a shared or public space make sure you have physical copies, or a display, at entrances and in key areas. This will ensure that everyone understands the policy and can operate by its standards.

At the same time make sure people know how, and to whom, to give feedback. The policy should also make it clear where to report other concerns, and what to do in certain situations.

A policy is only useful if it’s known and agreed upon!

Learn from others

Although every safe spaces policy is different a lot of them follow similar lines. If you’re still unsure on what to include then try researching groups in your area that might have their own policies. It’s also important to learn from the mistakes of others that you might have encountered, so you ensure you don’t repeat them!

Safer spaces policies fro several groups can easily be found online in many cases. Using these as a template or jumping off point is a good way to start. However, make sure not to simply copy-and-paste the policy of another community, as your own issues may not be fully addressed within!

Make sure to check out our website in the next few days for more information and ideas for action. For updates, news and more also make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

In celebration of International Dance Day we’ve gathered seven great tips to help you incorporate dance into your actions for IDAHOT 2016. Whether it’s a small individual performance, or a group event, dance can be used in many creative ways – either as the main focus, or as a smaller part of a big event!

1 – Hold a flashmob!

Originally designed in response to rules against public gatherings, flashmobs are now a popular tactic across the world. The idea is simple: A group gathers secretly in a public location, using text or social media to coordinate their meeting. The activists blend into the crowd until signaled to begin a special pre-planned performance.

It could be a highly-rehearsed, coordinated routine, or something much more amateur. Whatever it is, flashmobs can be a great way of engaging younger people and raising public awareness of an important specific issue.

For more ideas, check out some of the past events which have used flashmobs for IDAHOT.

2 – Use traditional elements

All across the world LGBTI individuals have existed as long as humans have, yet in many countries the idea that LGBTI identities are a recent invention still remains. Whether it’s traditional music, traditional dance, or both, incorporating traditional elements into a performance can help bridge the perceived gap between the LGBTI community and a culture’s traditional elements.

Traditional elements also help attract sections of the public that might not normally engage with LGBTI issues to your campaign, but is perhaps most useful in the way it can shift public perceptions.

For more inspiration check out Gay Gordan’s traditional Scottish dance group, or the London Gay Men’s Choir.

3 – Get a live band

If you want your event to draw lots of members of the public then one of the best ways is through live music! Not only is it a great way to put on a show, but can always be a great way of supporting local musicians, especially LGBTI musicians who might not often get a platform!

Search your local community for bands that can perform alongside your dance. It might seem like a daunting task, but it’s usually not too difficult to find talented and enthusiastic musicians who are happy to support a good cause.

4 – Busk or hold a street performance

If your group is very small, or even if you’re only an individual, then a street performance (known as busking in some parts of the world) is a great way to draw attention to your cause, or to raise important funds through donations.

In theory, all you need is a sound system and public space, but its good to make sure that your performance is well-rehearsed too. If you’re raising awareness make sure you also bring along information such as signs or leaflets too. In many cities you may need a permit or special permission, so check in advance with local authorities before you hold a performance.

5 – Contact schools and community groups

If performance isn’t your thing then consider working with a local group who are willing to support your event. Schools, community groups and dance groups are often eager to put on a show, and contacting them might be a great way to build links with the local community.

6 – Build a mobile sound system

If you have the time or resources then a mobile sound system is great for making sure your performance doesn’t have to remain static. Whether it’s a car or van with speakers, a bicycle trailer, or even a person-carried system, having a system that moves with you is ideal for parades, protests and marches.

Have a look online at other people’s systems, look around your community and see what you have available. You might find you have the perfect components for a mobile system already to hand!

7 – Make it loud!

Although dancing is a fun and creative outlet for communities, the most important aspect is its ability to draw attention. Bring colors, loud music, exciting costumes and other visual and aural aspects can ensure that your performance draws as much attention as possible.

When it comes to IDAHOT there’s no such thing as TOO VISIBLE! When you’re planning your performance you should always make sure you’re doing your best to ensure it’s as visible, loud and attractive as possible!